Asparagus Soup

You can either find humor in stereotypes or not.

For me, it’s a combination of the two.

When I’m driving around Boston and a fellow Asian driver cuts me off or stops short, I become livid, usually exclaiming, “this is why we have this stereotype!” I may have road rage.

Yet when my mother insists that the television remote control be covered in saran wrap, I accept this as totally normal. Surely every household has remote controllers covered in saran wrap, that are wiped off every evening with a paper napkin.

“Your father, he has such greasy hands!”

Surely.

I never get annoyed with my mother when she says, “so cheap!” at the grocery store.  Instead, I nod my head, sometimes adding a few of those oranges she found on sale into my own shopping basket.

When I catch up with my friend J, hearing about the hundredth time his mother surprised him, showing up at his apartment unannounced with two suitcases full of Korean groceries, I can’t help but share when my mother does the same (last time with a pound of green tea and a kitchen sink strainer).

J and I also have this ingrained, core value of trying to never disappoint our mothers.  Growing up we were pushed hard to achieve the most academically.  And now that we’ve graduated college (it’s been a few years actually), our mothers are asking about the next phase of our lives.

“Why aren’t you in grad school?”

“When are you getting married?

“When are you having children?”

Even though J and I are opposite sexes, our inquiries are the same.

For a while, J and I were able to push them to the wayside, but the last time we spoke, he told me he was applying to medical school for 2013.  His mother and aunt recently visited and basically had an “intervention.”

For once I’m glad my mother is an only child.

I’m not ready to answer any of those questions.  I’d rather put my focus elsewhere, in the kitchen.

Hitting up the local produce stand is something I look forward to every weekend.  Johnny D’s is closed on Sundays, so Saturdays are usually the best time to go when looking for last minute deals.  And when I saw bunches of asparagus being sold for 99 cents each, I knew I had a winner.

So cheap!

Mushroom and Wheatberry Soup with Kale

Some New Year’s resolutions may be to lose weight this year.  Others may want to quit smoking.  And maybe a few would like to spend less money.

I on the other hand, would just like to keep the crew from Hoarders from showing up at my apartment doorstep.

My kitchen cupboards are full, full of pantry staples like flours, dried beans, sugars, canned tomatoes and the like.  Unfortunately, it goes beyond that.

Various dried mushrooms? Shitake, porcini and woodman’s blend (whatever that means…)

Hijiki? Shacking up with arame.  They’re besties.

Dates? Sure, but to get to them you gotta push aside the dried cranberries, raisins, golden raisins, apricots, dried cherries…hold on a sec….where did these cacao nibs come from!?

And with the cupboards being filled to the brim, some items have found “homes” in re-usable grocery bags on the floor.  It just needed to stop.

Soup, was the answer.

The flux of warm, re-circulated, dry air in the lab to a drastically different, wet, cold and sometimes windy Boston side-street, has brought on sniffling noses, stiff joints and knuckles begging to be cracked.  Perhaps it’s a lingering bug, but I’m convinced that the constant change has left my body tired and hungry; hungry for warm bowls filled with hearty ingredients and dunkable broth.

Baked Falafel

This is basically the second part to the Falafel Nachos post I wrote up yesterday.

Falafel is typically deep fried; a reason why I don’t eat it very often, despite a great restaurant serving it on a daily basis near my workplace.

However, when find myself at home craving the crunchy, creamy chickpea ball filled with bold spices, I bake it.

That’s not a typo, I do bake it.

It’s quick to make, as you throw all the ingredients in a food processor to be chopped and combined.  The mixture is then rolled into balls, placed on a greased cookie sheet, flattened and then baked in the oven.

Bright lemon, earthy cumin and aromatic cilantro, encapsulated by a soft, pleasant crunch, makes it a tasty snack or even better, a great component of your nachos for game day.

Falafel Nachos Made With Homemade Pita Chips

With NFL playoffs in full swing, I can’t help but think of nachos.

It’s practically tradition.  A six pack of Sam Adams out on the porch, friends sitting on couches and nachos being scooped up; most of the time to motion at the television with, when an offensive play goes astray.

But with NFL playoffs are also New Year’s resolutions.

Not being one to tempt you to fall off the wagon, I bring a side dish that’s not a compromise, but something better.

Seriously.

Yes, nachos are a “classic,” with cheese and tortilla chip nestled into one another, but these my friend, have different textures and incredibly bold flavors; a welcomed brightness to a dark-by-4 winter’s day.

Crisp, cumin pita chips with dollops of garlicky hummus, and crunchy, creamy cilantro infused falafel, drizzled with a bit tahini, broken through with bold flavors of spicy sriracha and bite of red onion.

It’s good.  It’s really good.

And when you scoop it up all together, it’s like magic.  Like Tom Brady magic.  Not that I’m biased or anything.

Quinoa with Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Parsnips, Carrots and Butternut Squash

Did you…

come home to see that the cats had knocked down your Christmas tree?

get your hands covered in wretched, sticky sap after putting the tree back up?

curse under your breath as you were washing off your hands, because you forgot that this also happened last year?

hysterically accuse your cats of hating Christmas while they just stared at you?

then find two green beans in your sneaker the next morning?

Coming home to a disaster in the living room isn’t exactly what I want to deal with before making dinner.

Instead, it makes me want to pour myself a glass of wine; throwing some items onto a baking sheet and into a pot, being just an after thought.

Thankfully this recipe is just that (sans wine).

Most of the work comes from prepping the veg: peeling, cutting, tossing with a bit of olive oil.  Then throwing them onto two baking sheets and roasting them while the quinoa cooks in a pot.  (Or rice cooker. And if you’re lucky, it’ll sing to you when it’s done.)

It’s also very easy for it to look lovely in presentation: quinoa placed on a platter with assorted roasted veg on top; all their caramelized edges facing outward, just asking to be snatched up and popped into hungry mouths.  It’s quite possibly the easiest way to impress guests for a meal that took less than an hour to make.

I love the sweetness from the roasted veg and golden raisins, crunch of the toasted almond slivers, and basically any excuse to eat quinoa.

It’s so good that it almost makes me forget that the cats tried to ruin Christmas.

Serves 4

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*This recipe is so simple to add flavors to that you’re craving during the winter months. Feel free to add, for example, a sprig of rosemary to your quinoa as it cooks. Or for example, for added richness, a tablespoon of butter.*

Ingredients

One cup of quinoa, rinsed

Two cups of low sodium stock (I used homemade vegetable) (*if using a rice cooker, fill the bowl to the “1″ with stock after adding the quinoa)

2 – 3 tablespoons of mild tasting olive oil (basically enough olive oil to lightly coat the veg before going into the oven)

1 teaspoon of fine sea salt salt

Half a small butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cut into half inch pieces (the smaller the chop, the faster it’ll cook!)

1 pound of brussels sprouts, halved

1 large parsnip, peeled and chopped into one inch chunks

Two large carrots, peeled and chopped into one inch chunks

One third cup of golden raisins

One third cup of almond slivers, toasted

Salt and pepper to taste

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Equipment

A small pot to cook the quinoa with a lid, or a rice cooker (this is what I used)

A sharp knife

A vegetable peeler

(At least) Two cookie sheets

Two large bowls (or one, and after tossing the veg with olive oil clean it out and use it to serve the meal with)

A small pan (to toast the almonds with)

A spatula

A platter/very large plate to serve the dish on

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Place your oven racks to the middle upper and middle lower positions in your oven.  Preheat your oven to 400F.

In a small pot add the quinoa and stock.  Place over a burner on medium high heat and bring the liquid to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer the ingredients for about ten to fifteen minutes, covered, or until the curly-q tail (you’ll know it when you see it) is visible.  Remove the pot from heat, fluff the quinoa with a fork and set aside.

If using a rice cooker, add the quinoa and then stock, filling the bowl to the “1 cup” marker.  Cook on “quick cook,” or whatever similar setting you have on your rice cooker.  When the quinoa is cooked, fluff it with a fork and set aside.

In a large bowl add the brussels sprouts, parsnips, carrots and butternut squash.  Add the olive oil and salt.  Toss all the ingredients together (I used my hands) till well coated with the oil and salt.

Throw all the veg onto your cookie sheets and place in the oven on the upper middle and lower middle racks.  Roast for about thirty minutes.  Halfway through roasting turn all the veg over so that they can be browned on both sides, and rotate the cookie sheets, placing them on different racks.  The veg will be done when they’re browned and soft when pierced with a fork/knife.  Remove the veg from the oven and set aside.

In a small pan add the almond slivers and place over a burner on medium heat.  Watching the nuts closely, swirl them around over the heat until they are browned.  Remove from heat.

In another large bowl (or the one you tossed the veg with, cleaned), add the quinoa, roasted veg, raisins and almond slivers.  Toss the ingredients together till combined.  Taste and add salt and pepper if desired.

Scoop out the quinoa onto a platter then place the roasted veg on top.  Serve immediately, being sure to scoop up all sorts of veg and quinoa onto your plate.

Lentils with Caramelized Onions

It has been a very eventful day for the kitties.

Both Evil Monkey

and Stinkee

(yes, those are their real names) had their annual appointment.  Unfortunately, they haven’t been in their individual cat carriers since Roo brought them home from the shelter a year ago.  They also haven’t ventured outside our apartment, like our over-stimulating porch, since Monkey threatened to launch herself off the ledge while chasing a house sparrow.

Roo was left alone to get them into their carriers and bring them to the vet, as I had to work.  And according to Roo, it was a bit of production.  The short of it being that they wanted nothing to do with leaving the apartment.  And there were escapes.  And tantrums.  And mewing.  Lots of mewing.

Luckily that morning was not an indicator of how the actual appointment was, as the kitties were very well behaved.  They sat still for their physical exams and shots, only to mew the whole way there, and the whole way back.  Roo felt quite bad for them, especially when the vet suggested that if it was for only once a year, the cats would be fine in their individual carriers, but more than that, then perhaps they would be happier in something more spacious.  Irish Catholic Guilt is the only level of remorse I can describe for how Roo felt.

Now, don’t feel too bad for them, as the kitties have slept it off and are up to their usual shenanigans of finding new places to explore,

finding new places to call a bed,

no no, this bed is much better,

and claiming things that don’t belong to them.

Needless to say with that last photo, I think they’ve forgiven Roo.

As for me I came home pretty uninspired as to what to cook for dinner.  After asking on Facebook what I should make, my friend JS suggested mujadara.  Mujadara, is a wonderfully creamy dish featuring lentils, rice and spices that I love such as cinnamon and cumin.  Unfortunately mujadara seemed a little heavy for me, but I couldn’t get the idea of lentils out of my head.  I love how a tiny legume has such a complex flavor profile.  They’re peppery, soft and creamy, all in one bite.  And, they’re filling, healthy and cheap!  What girl doesn’t love affordable ingredients?

In the end I decided to do an take on Mujadara, with my three favorite components of the dish: lentils, caramelized onions, and cumin.  It’s still peppery from the lentils, creamy, and a bit sweet from the caramelized onion, and has a lovely, earthy heat from the cumin.  I am seriously addicted to cumin.  And red pepper flake.  I think I need spice rehab.

Now I’m going to warn you.  Unlike the pictures of the kitties, this dish is not cute.  In fact, I’d say it’s uglier than “ugly salsa.”  It may be the ugliest dish I’ve ever made.  But try to remember back when your (insert parent) read to you at bedtime and it ended with the important moral of the story.  No, I’m not talking about don’t talk to strangers.  How else are you going to get free candy?

Lentils with Caramelized Onions

Serves Four As a Side

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Ingredients

One cup of lentils

Three to four large onions, thinly sliced (this may seem like a lot of onion, but it’ll cook down, and it’s so so good)

One teaspoon of cumin (if it’s your first time using cumin, start with half)

Three to Four tablespoons of olive oil (at least enough to coat the pan for the onions)

Salt to taste

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Equipment

A large saute pan

A pot (can hold about four cups of water) with a lid (or something that you can partially cover it with)

A fine colander

A sharp knife

A spatula

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In a small pot (this just prevents you from using another dish), rinse the lentils with cold water, picking out any debris (I’ve found discolored lentils and once, a pebble).  You can rinse the lentils with cold water, then dump them into a fine colander to drain out the dirty water and pick out the debris.  When you’re done rinsing, put them back in the small pot, and fill with water, about two to three inches above the lentils.    Place the pot over a burner, on medium high heat.  Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat so that your water is at a simmer.  Partially cover and cook for 30 minutes, or until your lentils are soft to taste.  If your water evaporates to expose the lentils to the air (mine usually does), just pour more water into the pot, covering the lentils again, about two to three inches.  As for the end point of your lentils, you want them to be soft, but not be mushy.  Once they’re soft, remove them from the heat (you don’t want them to overcook and lose their shape).  Immediately drain the water from pot, or just dump the lentils back in the fine colander again, and then put the now drained lentils back into the dry pot.

While the lentils are cooking, add the olive oil to the saute pan and place over medium low heat.  When the oil starts to shimmer, add the cumin.  Cook until fragrant, about thirty seconds.  Add the onions.  Add a good pinch of salt.  Cook until caramelized.  You want them to be soft, sweet, golden brown and practically melting in your mouth.  This should take between ten and twenty minutes, depending on how crowded your pan is with the onions, and how strong your burner is.  Keep an eye on it, stirring it occasionally with a spatula.

When the onions are caramelized, remove from heat.  They can totally hang out on a cool burner until the lentils are ready.

When the lentils are ready, add the lentils to the pan.  With a spatula, fold the ingredients over one another till combined.  Add salt to taste.  Eat immediately.

Quinoa Patties

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past week, you’re aware that the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last Wednesday.  And this past Saturday, Boston held the championship parade.

Roo and I were unable to see the parade (he has been waiting for the Bs to win the cup since he was traumatized by their last playoff game years ago) as he had to attend an all day bachelor party and I had to go to work.  That, unfortunately, didn’t mean I missed out on experiencing the Bruins fans.

I decided to take public transportation to work – as I usually do during the week – to avoid the mess of road closures.  I don’t know if that was the best decision I made…

Around 11:30 I took the bus to Kenmore station, and the ride was surprisingly quiet.  My guess was that most of the fans had left very early so they could get a spot right up against the road to cheer their team on as they rolled by.  Park Street however, was a different story.

Walking down the stairs to get to the red line, there was this sound, a sound I can only describe as the scene from the movie Gladiator, when the men are walking up the ramp only to hear a roar from the crowd beyond the wooden doors.  And yellow!  The platform was packed with Bruins fans, in their yellow and black shirts, shouting words like, “Bruins,” “Cup,” “Yeah!,” and other things that I couldn’t make out because it was so loud.  The majority of them appeared to be in their early twenties, and, wasted.  At the base of the stairs MBTA employees were yelling at those who walked down (and then clustered in front of them), to move down the platform to make room for everyone.  But there really wasn’t any room left.  The normally cool underground subway station, was overcrowded, humid, and smelled of sweat.  And beer.

How we all managed to get onto the train, still boggles my mind, but for some reason karma disliked my getting a seat.  I only had to go one stop, but not a minute after we moved, I got elbowed on the bridge of my nose.

That’s right.

It honestly happened all to quickly for me to even block the hit, but there was a scuffle amongst – I think – friends (who were drunk).

When I got home after work I just wanted something comforting to eat (for me and my now roman nose), with little time at the stove as it was quite warm out.  I threw quinoa in the rice cooker, and thumbed through a new favorite cookbook of mine, Super Natural Everyday.

I never had quinoa until I started reading the author’s blog.  And now quinoa is something Roo requests, which is especially rewarding because I never thought that the boy from “the most Irish town in America” would ever eat something that wasn’t a normal side to chicken or beef.  But that’s my own crow I have to chew on.

Adapted, just a little, from Super Natural Everyday

I didn’t make them super round and all pretty, probably because I was feeling a bit ugly myself, but they truly are delicious.  Crispy on the outside from being pan fried with a bit of oil, a tiny bite from the onion, with creaminess from the egg, parmesan and garlic; it’s just what you need when you’re having an off day.

Serves Four as a Side, Generously

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Ingredients

About two cups cooked quinoa

4 large egg whites (you can use 4 eggs – I can’t because of Roo, *note: this will also create a more sturdy mixture as the egg yolks I find are a better binder)

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt (I use Diamond brand)

1 large onion diced

1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated

4 cloves of garlic, minced (I love garlic, but if you’re not as big of a fan, use 3)

1 cup panko

1 – 2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper flake (this little something really adds to the dish, if heat scares you, start with half a teaspoon)

3 tablespoons olive oil (for the pan)

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Equipment

One large bowl

One large saute pan with cover (if you don’t have a cover, it’s ok, I have forgotten to cover the pan and it’s worked out just fine)

A spatula

A pair of tongs or another spatula (to flip the patties)

A sharp knife

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I find that cooking a half cup of quinoa yields about two cups of quinoa.  In a pot add half a cup of quinoa and one cup of water to a boil.  Reduce the heat so that the contents simmer for around 20 minutes or until the quinoa opens up.  The quinoa will reveal a little curly cue tail (like a spiral) and it will be soft to chew (softer than cooked barley).  Drain any remaining liquid and set aside to cool to room temperature.  If you have a rice cooker, throw the quinoa in, adding the water to the “white rice” 0.5 cup level, and press quick cook.

Add quinoa, egg whites and salt to the large bowl and combine with spatula.  Add the onion and garlic, parmesan cheese, panko and crushed red pepper flake. Fold in all the ingredients till combined (it’s going to make a pretty sticky “batter”).  Pour the olive oil into the pan and set the burner on medium heat.  As the oil starts to warm, make your patties.  I like to grab about a palmful of “batter,” and roll it in between my hands, flattening it down before putting it into the pan.  Hopefully by the time you finish your first patty, the oil will start to shimmer.

Place the first patty in the pan.  If the pan is hot enough, the patty shouldn’t fall apart.  (I have found when using egg whites that the patty tends to fall apart in the pan if it isn’t hot enough.)  Then, keep going, making patties, and placing them in the pan, one by one.  (In my pan, I can fit all of them.)  Without crowding them, fit as many as you can.  Cover the pan (if you can, if you don’t have a cover, that’s fine, it just may take longer) and cook for 7 to 10 minutes.  You want the patties to be deeply browned (browned = ohmygoodness, who cares if I was hit in the nose).  Flip the patties with your tongs/spatula and then press the patties down to flatten them out even more (believe in the browning!).  Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown.  Remove the patties from the pan and let cool on a couple paper towels.  Repeat the above steps with any remaining “batter.”